This Bad Habit Is the Reason You Can Never Fall Asleep

A good night's sleep is at the heart of a successful next day—both at work and at home. In fact, The Sleep Revolutionauthor Arianna Huffington of the eponymous Huffington Post recently pointed out that working when sleep-deprived is the "cognitive equivalent of coming to work drunk," as reported by Business Insider. Put simply, a lack of sleep will affect everything in your day-to-day life, from your level of productivity and overall work performance to your personal relationships and mental clarity.

Although getting enough sleep requires just a bit of forethought and the breaking of some hard-to-quit habits, doing so in the face of a hectic schedule is easier said than done. Huffington described to BI a few common habits that can get in the way of maintaining a healthy sleep schedule—many of which, admittedly, we've committed ourselves. Most frequently? The crime of scanning your phone before bed.

"For me, the key is to every night before I'm going to go to sleep, thirty minutes before, turn off all of my devices and gently escort them out of my bedroom," Huffington told Business Insider. Instead, the media mogul reads a book every night before hitting the hay. The problem with our smartphones is in the LED screens, which emit a penetrative blue light that essentially tells our brains, Wake up! It's not time to go to sleep yet! What's more, studies have shown that this blue light can actually damage vision and suppress production of melatonin—the hormone that helps us to fall asleep naturally.

Do you scan your smartphone before going to sleep? Do you have trouble falling asleep at night?